


Gordon's Chest

by vicki1963 (vickir)



Series: Gordon's Chest [1]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24283483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vickir/pseuds/vicki1963
Summary: Gordon's found something while diving, but it's not what he thought it would be.
Series: Gordon's Chest [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753000
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12
Collections: TIWF stories from challenges and prompts





	Gordon's Chest

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired from the TIWF 2014 pick-a-prompt challenge. The prompt used 'He pulled it slowly, not sure what would happen next.'

The day started on Tracy Island, just like any other day. It was peaceful, with the local birds happily chirping away as the sun rose. With the sun, Gordon Tracy rose as well. Gordon had always been an early riser from childhood. Later, while serving in the WASP, Gordon continued his swimming training every morning. That changed due to a hydrofoil accident that nearly killed him. These days he enjoyed his workout in the pool, but at a more leisurely pace, which outdid any of his brothers’ efforts.

Today he planned to go do some diving out at the wreck a half-mile from the island. It wasn’t the first time that he had been there, taking his brothers and even Tin-Tin out to it regularly. It was to keep up their diving skills in case he needed to have one of them along with him on an underwater rescue.

After doing his morning ablutions, Gordon headed out to the lounge. The night before Gordon had told his Father his plans, Tin-Tin, who was also there at the time, offered to accompany him. Gordon declined her offer wanting to do some solo diving without having to take care of someone else. Seeing that she was a little hurt by his decision, he compromised by having her stand by the radio in case he needed help - which he doubted. His Father was pleased with this.

Seeing Tin-Tin in the lounge as arranged, he knew she would stay there until he returned. Acknowledging her, he headed off down to the pier where the boat, Tracy 4, was moored waiting for him. Collecting his scuba gear, and an extra tank of air, he made his way to Tracy 4 and loaded up. After checking the equipment yet again, Gordon headed off to the site of the wreck.

Arriving, he lowered the anchor and prepared to dive. Just before he did, he radioed Tin-Tin to check-in.

“Tracy 4 to Tracy Island.”

“Tracy Island, receiving you, Gordon,” Tin-Tin answered.

“Just letting you know I’m about to dive. You’ll be able to contact me by radio if I’m needed.”

“Okay, Gordon will do. Everything is still quiet here. Your Father is the only one up at the moment.”

“FAB. I’ll call you when I’m heading back.”

“Okay, Tracy Island out.”

Taking deep, even breaths, Gordon relaxed and went into the water.

Swimming down, the only sound he heard was his breathing. The peace he felt when swimming was like nothing he had ever felt. He imagined his brothers felt this way when they flew their aircraft, spent time in space, or sped along in a race car. To him, it seemed like a natural extension of himself when he was in the water. As he approached the wreck, schools of the different reef and tropical species increased. Among them, Snapper, Lionfish, Angelfish, Butterflyfish as well as young Mackerel, Trevally, and other species were around the wreck. Stingrays and Pike were there also as Gordon moved through the schools as they parted, making a passageway for him. The shipwreck made an artificial reef, and it was the perfect place where some species found a home. Gordon was doing research on these fish, the species, and habits. That was one of the reasons why he wanted to head down into the hull of the wreck today to collect the recorded data to help with his research.

Swimming around the wreck, checking on the condition it was in from the last time he was there, he found that not much had changed. Finding the entrance, Gordon attached the safety rope to the clip there. Previously, Gordon had attached hooks at intervals throughout the wreck and had a guide rope threaded through so his brothers, Tin-Tin and himself, stayed in the safer areas of the wrecked ship. Attaching a safety line helped if anyone got disoriented during the dive, as well as being a guide.

The wreck itself was as safe as Gordon could make it. He didn’t want one of his brothers or Tin-Tin to get hurt if he could help it. So, he had dived many times alone, making it as safe as a wreck could be. The shipwreck was an old Spanish galleon. It had gone down during a storm on the rocks of Tracy Island in the 1600s. The name of the ship was lost long before the Tracy family moved there. Its secrets lay buried along with any crew who had perished that fateful day. No one outside the family knew about the wreck, and Gordon wanted it kept that way. Mainly due to the equipment left for their benefit and also as it was close to home. The secret base of International Rescue. Gordon had done some research and found nothing about the shipwreck, assuming it had gone off course, and due to that fact, no one would ever know of its existence. Hopefully, keeping people's interest in other areas where this ship, whatever name it had at the time, had presumably gone down nowhere near their island. 

As he navigated through the wreck, Gordon headed for the central hull area. This area was a large cabin where a lot of the nocturnal fish dwelled during the day, but as he swam along, something shiny caught his eye. It was in the section where the Captain’s cabin would be at the stern of the ship. Gordon hadn’t been in there as it looked too unstable, but he had a strange feeling he needed to go and check this time.

Checking his safety line, he attached it to the nearest hook as an extra precaution. Slowly moving into the area, he saw that visibility was almost non-existent. Shining his torch around, he didn’t notice anything catching the light. Over time, he and his brothers had found the occasional doubloon or other small treasures, but nothing else. Seeing nothing at all, Gordon turned to start heading back out, but just as he did, his torch came upon something bright. Searching the area again, he finally saw a dark silhouette, something big and bulky. Moving closer, he found what looked like a large chest. Carefully, Gordon put his hand out and tried to remove the sediment from it. Not making much headway, he shone his torch on the chest. What he did notice was nothing was shining back at him.

‘That’s strange. I could have sworn there was something shiny here,’ Gordon thought to himself.

All of a sudden, a loud groan echoed through the wreck.

Turning around quickly, “What the hell was that?” he said out loud.

Not liking what he had heard, Gordon left the cabin. Seeing nothing was amiss, he decided to return to Tracy 4.

Once aboard the boat, Gordon tried to think what the noise could have been and what could have caused it. Checking the equipment, he found the wreck was still where it had always been. Deciding he needed a second opinion, he called his brother.

“Tracy 4 to Thunderbird 5.”

“Thunderbird 5, what’s up, Gordo?”

“You tell me.”

“Sorry?”

“No, I’m sorry, John. Can you tell me if we’ve had any seismic activity around the island, say about half a mile radius of it?”

“Let me just check,’ John said, turning to check. ‘No, there’s nothing in our area. Why?”

“No reason.”

“Are you out at that old wreck again?”

“Yes.”

“Gordon, you have a bizarre fascination with it.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I know you did some research on it.”

“I was just making sure it wouldn’t bring any treasure hunters around. You know it could cause trouble if people came too close.”

“Did you find anything?”

“No, couldn’t find a thing which was strange.”

“Why, in what way?” John queried.

“Records show that this ship never existed,” Gordon told him.

“Which is a good thing for us, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s just weird.”

“Weird? You of all my brothers, I never thought you’d call anything doing with the sea weird, especially the wreck.”

“Ha, ha, no, what I believe is weird is that every ship I researched was accounted for, be it by shipwreck or scuttled, after it was too old and unsafe. But this one, it’s like it never existed.”

“Does sound strange, after all. I take it you told Dad?”

“Yeah, he was glad to know that it wouldn’t bring undue attention to us. He didn’t worry about it after that.”

“Well, if he’s not worried, I wouldn’t let it worry you either.”

“Maybe you're right,” Gordon said.

“It’s almost noon, shouldn’t you be heading back?”

“Don’t you start; I get enough of that from smother hen, Scott.”

“I’m just saying. Dad doesn’t like it when you overdo it with your back.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I was planning to dive again, but maybe I should head in.”

“Good idea. Okay, well, if you want to talk some more, you know how to reach me.”

“Okay, John.”

“Tracy Island to Tracy 4,” Tin-Tin’s voice came over the radio just after John had finished.

“Tracy 4 here,” Gordon answered her.

“Gordon, your Father, wants you back in. I think he’s worried you’ll overdo it with that back of yours.”

“Will everyone leave off about my back! I know my capabilities!” Gordon said quite harshly.

“I’m sorry, Gordon, it’s just that we love you and worry about you,” Tin-Tin said.

“No, I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have had a go at you,” Gordon said, feeling awful for the way he had spoken to her. “I know you and the others worry about me because of what happened. Look, I’m heading back in now anyway, I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay, Gordon, see you when you get here,” she said, not too fazed by the way Gordon had spoken to her. She sympathized, knowing how his family, on occasion, treated him.

Packing up, Gordon headed back to the island. Thinking about the chest back in the wreck, he was determined to investigate it when time and his Father allowed. Hopefully, he’d get a chance to the next day.

Arriving back at the island, Gordon unloaded, cleaned, and stored his gear ready for the next day if, on the off chance, he would be able to go diving again. But just as he was about to head for the villa, his watch alarm went off, signaling that he and his brothers were needed.

~~~~

Gordon didn’t get to dive the next day or any other day for two months. That was because he broke his arm and pulled a muscle in his back at the same time on one of the rescue missions. Gordon out of action until he got the all-clear, and even then, he was on light duties, which included his workout in the pool. Luckily during this time, there were no water rescues, and both Alan and John were able to help Virgil. He knew his family meant well, but it got to him and made him angry the way they would mollycoddle him. Sometimes, Gordon, let his temper flare at whoever was around at the time, he was a redhead, after all. Later Gordon would apologize once he had some time alone to calm down.

~~~~

Finally, Gordon had the chance to go solo-diving again on the proviso that Tin-Tin handled the radio.

“It’s just a safety precaution, son. I know you’re more than capable, but I’d feel better if she handled the radio,” his Father had said.

But Gordon read it to mean, ‘in case your back gives you problems.’ What he was thankful for was that he wasn’t required to have a dive buddy.

First thing in the morning, after getting his Father’s approval to dive, Gordon was up early getting ready. Making sure Tin-Tin was in place, just to please his Father and his peace of mind, Gordon went down to Tracy 4. Arriving at the wreck site, he prepared to make the dive to check out the chest that he’d found the last time he was there.

Moving through the wreck, Gordon checked the hooks and safety line as he went as it had been a while. Moving slowly, he came up to the entrance of the Captain’s cabin where the chest was. Inside the cabin, the visibility hadn’t improved since the last time. Heading over to where he believed the chest was, he did a thorough sweep. No shining object caught his eye. Before giving up and leaving, he finally found it.

Taking his diving knife out, he tried to get some of the sediment off it. Unable to move any of it, he decided to resurface and grab the crowbar he’d brought, along with the hydrostatic hoist lifting kit. Trying again with the crowbar, he failed once more; the sediment was like cement. Deciding to try to pry open the lid to see if anything was inside, he tried the best he could, without pulling his back out, but failed. He had no luck, no matter what he did. He wanted to know what secrets the chest held. If there was a clue to the identity of the ship and maybe the crew, so, securing the hoist around the chest, as best he could Gordon activated the mechanism. Moving the chest hadn’t been his first choice, but it was the only way he’d be able to get into it as he didn’t have access to tools that were available to him on the island. If it were on land and in his workshop, he would have the time to open it and see what was inside. 

Getting the chest out of the wreck and up to the surface took longer than Gordon thought. Once Gordon was at the boat, he found there was a problem. Gordon couldn’t lift it aboard; it was too heavy for him even with the hoist. Securing the chest at the rear of the boat, Gordon headed back to the island.

When he arrived at the island, Gordon knew he wouldn’t be able to get it up on the pier without help. If he did his back in again so soon after recovering from his most recent injury, there would be hell to pay, and not just from Virgil, but from his Father and Scott as well. Getting grounded again wasn’t in his plans, especially when two months was bad enough. So, by the time he arrived back at the pier of Tracy Island, Gordon had made a plan to get his brothers to help in moving the chest back to his workshop. Whether they wanted to help or not.

“Tracy 4 to Tracy Island,” Gordon radioed.

“Tracy Island, yes, Gordon?” came the reply from Tin-Tin.

“Are Scott and Virgil around?”

“I believe so,” Tin-Tin answered.

“Good. Can you send them down to the pier, I need a hand with something.”

“Sure, I’ll send them down straight away.”

“FAB, Tracy 4 out.”

While Gordon waited for his brothers, he started unloading the boat. While Gordon got busy unloading, the two requested brothers arrived.

“I hope you didn’t want us to help you unload?” Scott asked.

“No, I’m more than capable of doing that, thanks,” Gordon said a little tersely.

Scott and Virgil looked at each other. Scott raised an eyebrow while Virgil just shrugged before they turned back to their younger brother.

“Then why did you send for us?” Virgil asked.

“I need help getting that up and on a hover platform,” Gordon said, pointing to the rear of Tracy 4.

“What have you got there?” Scott queried.

“It’s not a cannon from that wreck, is it?”

“No, Virgil, it’s not, it's a chest,” Gordon said.

“Okay, then why have you brought back a chest?” Virgil asked.

“Because I want to see what’s in it. I need help lifting it as it’s got heaps of sediment from over the centuries. It’s hardened like concrete and weighs like it too. I got you guys down to help because if I did my back in lifting it. Well, you know what’ll happen.”

“Yeah, I do. I’d put you on bed rest for six months before letting you do anything, and that’s before Dad gets hold of you,” Virgil stated.

“Not to mention what I’d do to you if you hurt that back of yours,” Scott chimed in.

“Yeah, okay, I get it. That’s why I called you guys.”

“What do you plan to do with it?” Virgil asked.

“Get it opened for a start. Depending on what’s in it, I’m not sure.”

“You think there’s a treasure in it?” Virgil asked.

“Who knows? Anyway, are you guys going to get moving?”

“Hold your horses, Gordo. We need to get the hover platform first,” Virgil said and hurried off to retrieve it.

While waiting for Virgil to return, Scott took a closer look.

“We’ll use the hoist to help get it onto the hover platform. It might be wise if it stays on it until you can decide where you want to put it.”

“That’s fine. Could you get it down to my workshop so I can work on it there?” Gordon asked.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Scott said.

“Great.”

Virgil returned with the hover platform, and with the help of Scott and the hoist, they managed to get it up from the rear of the boat. Once it was out of the water, they got it onto the hover platform without too much trouble. Moving the chest to Gordon’s workshop was easy. Deciding where to put it was another story.

“No guys put it over there near the workbench,” Gordon said. It was the sixth place he had told them to put it.

“There you are now. We have to go,” Virgil said, trying to escape.

“Wait. Maybe it would be better …”

“No!” both Scott and Virgil shouted together.

“It’s staying right where it is. It’s in the perfect position for you, right next to your workbench,” Scott said.

Seeing the looks on both his brothers' faces, Gordon said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. Thanks again for the help.”

“No problem. Let us know what you find in it.”

“Will do,” Gordon said and watched his brothers leave.

Finally, Gordon had a chance to look the chest over; he had taken the ropes from the hoist off it after they had got it into the work area he used for repairs to equipment. He knew he had to make some headway with the chest, but it was still too wet to attempt anything today. Thinking back to why he had gone to the wreck in the first place, Gordon knew he had to make yet another trip there for the data he needed. It would have to wait for another day; it was too late to do now. Heading back down to the pier, Gordon made sure everything was ready for the next time he wanted to go out to the wreck. Just as he finished up, his watch alarm went off, signaling he was needed along with his brothers.

~~~~

For the next two weeks, they were kept busy with rescues. Gordon didn’t go out on all of them, so he kept watch with his Father until the others returned. He did get out once to help though it wasn’t water-related. Virgil kept an eye on him, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid like pulling any more muscles in his back during the rescue. Gordon tolerated the concern, but wished they’d let him be. It had been a while now since his back had given him any trouble at all.

Finally, there was a break in the rescues. Seeing a chance, Gordon made the dive at the wreck to retrieve his data. Once he did that, he headed to his workshop to go through it. When he got there, he saw the chest that he had brought up still waiting for him. Deciding to analyze his data later, Gordon went to work on the chest.

A couple of hours later, Gordon finally made headway on the caked-on sediment without too much effect. Over the next few days, Gordon was able to clear almost all of it from around the hinges and lock area. Gordon also attempted to remove as much sediment as possible from the rest of the chest. Gordon was at the stage to open the lid of the chest, but he didn’t want to damage it too much. Gordon had no idea if there was any water inside; for that matter, Gordon had no idea what he would find in it either. It could hold a treasure of doubloons, gold, and jewelry as far as he knew, but it likely could be empty or a family of crabs. Well, he wasn’t going to find out until he got it opened. Gordon decided to leave it for another day or two before attempting to open the chest. Preparations had to occur before that could happen. So, Gordon went to relax and get some laps done in the pool before Virgil caught him and made him rest properly.

~~~~

A couple of days later, after one rescue and being threatened by not just one overprotective brother, but two, to relax, Gordon finally got back down to his workshop. Seeing the chest still waiting for him, he prepared to open it and find out exactly what was in it. Putting a sign on his door saying, “Keep out an experiment in progress,” Gordon hoped it would be enough to his brothers away. Locking the door and shutting the windows and vents to prevent any toxins or harmful bacteria from escaping, he then donned a protective suit as well as a mask as extra protection. Gordon just hoped no rescues came in while he was doing it. Gordon had checked with John to make sure nothing was brewing that may require him before he started. Getting the all-clear, Gordon proceeded with the opening of the chest.

Standing in front of the chest, Gordon checked it over. Everything looked as it did the last time he was there. Trying to lift the lid, Gordon couldn’t. It was still way too heavy and stiff from all the sediment that he wasn’t able to chisel off. Using a crowbar, Gordon faired a bit better, but still not enough to get it completely opened. Gordon didn’t know what he expected when he finally got the lid opened. No genie appeared, nor any dangerous creature. For a chest closed for how many centuries there was little or no dust. Checking his instruments, Gordon found no change in the air quality in his workshop when he started the opening process. Leaving the crowbar holding the lid, Gordon found a small hydraulic jack. Gordon pushed down on the crowbar as hard as he could until there was enough room to slide in the hydraulic jack. Once it was secured, Gordon used it to push the lid up slowly to a point where he was able to do the rest himself. Getting a good grip on it, he finally put all his strength into getting it open. Now he was able to see what was inside, once he removed the hydraulic jack and crowbar out of the way.

Still taking precautions, but finally ditching the full helmet for a smaller mask, he finally looked into the chest, probably the first one to do so in centuries. There was no gold or treasure of any sort; he knew Virgil would be disappointed. There seemed to be someone’s belongings. He was amazed anything centuries-old had survived this long. Who had they belonged to? On top was a neatly folded dark blue shirt. Carefully trying to raise it, the shirt started to crumble. Looking around for something to lift it, he found a sheet of light metal. Gordon again attempted to move the shirt. Slowing moving the brittle material onto the metal sheet, he then placed it on the plastic he had laid out. Taking a small sample of the shirt, he checked it was safe under the microscope for any dangerous bacteria, but it turned out to be safe. It looked like the chest had been sealed quite well as there was no sign of water having gotten into it at all. Everything that was in the chest seemed to be in the same condition. It looked to be in pristine condition to the eye, but brittle and falling apart when touched.

Under the dark blue shirt, he found two others, one a lighter blue color, and a white one. The next item he found was a heavily wrapped parcel of sorts; well, that’s what it looked to be. He pulled it slowly, not sure what would happen next. He hoped it wasn’t as brittle as the shirts had been. He slowly removed it as carefully as possible. Animal skin covered the item, which had hardened due to a lack of air. Taking great care, Gordon removed the wrappings as best he could, to reveal a book. Carefully Gordon opened the cover and found it to be a journal of the person who owned the chest. Just before he replaced it in the wrapping to protect it, he noticed a few loose pages, but on closer inspection, he found them to be photos. 

The pictures looked to be timeworn, so he carefully pulled them out of the book. They were pretty faded, but he could still see the people in them. The pictures seemed to have been taken in the mid to late 1800s when photography became commercially available. So, what he had thought had been a shipwreck from the 1600s now could be dated to the 1800s.

The first photo was of a man, middle-aged, and quite distinguished in maritime clothes. The next was of a group photo, a crew of about twenty to thirty men in front of a small Spanish Galleon. If Gordon remembered his history of Spanish Galleons, they were much larger and had died out long before the nineteenth century. This man must have built this smaller version himself. If that were true, he would have been a wealthy man in his day. The next was a photo of this same man and a young woman in her late teens or early twenties. Was this his wife or daughter? The following picture answered that question as it was a photo of the same man yet again with his arm around a woman of similar age to him with the young lady. It was a family shot. The last photo showed the rear of the ship with the man and the young woman, dressed in black. Well, dark colors as far as you could tell in these old photos, but the name of the ship was well displayed. It read, Sarah Maria. Maybe this was the name of the wreck just off Tracy Island. It was a start, and he could perhaps find out more about it. 

Carefully putting the photos back in the book and wrapping it, he put it aside to go through properly later when he had a chance. Continuing to go through the chest, he found nothing else of interest. Gordon found nothing that Virgil would consider treasure, but he believed he had found a wealth of sorts in finding a possible journal and photos of the man who once sailed the shipwreck that was only half a mile from his home on Tracy Island. 

Packing the clothes or what was left of them back in the chest, he kept the journal and photos out, but still wrapped up in the cover he had found them in. He planned to go through them later. Making a mental note to get his brothers to help him get rid of the chest, he went out of his workshop and headed to his room, dropping the journal on his desk to read later.

~~~~

Grabbing a towel after changing into his swimmers, Gordon headed out to the pool to do some laps to relax. When he got there, he found his elder brothers.

“Hey, Gordon, have you opened that chest yet?” Virgil asked upon seeing his younger brother.

“Yeah, I have,” he told him.

“So, what’s in it?” Scott asked just as interested.

“Nothing,” Gordon just said.

“Nothing?!” both Virgil and Scott said together.

“Well, nothing that would interest you guys.”

“No treasure?” Virgil queried.

“Depends on what you think of as treasure.”

“So, what was in it then?” Scott asked.

“Just some old clothes and a journal of some sort with some old photos.”

“They survived all this time?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, they did. When I get time, I plan on going over everything properly.”

“John would be interested in that journal. You know he likes history,” Scott said.

“Yeah, only when he can’t do any stargazing,” Virgil said.

“I’ll let him know later. Right now, I’m going for a swim, care to join me?”

“Nah, I might go do some painting. What about you, Scott?”

“I need to get some work done,” Scott said and got up and left with Virgil following.

As he prepared to have his swim, he couldn’t help but think of what he had found. The journal was by someone who had seen or been on this very island he called home. Hopefully, he would learn more about him and the crew of the ship that had gone down. Only time would tell. In the meantime, the pool was beckoning him, and he couldn’t resist any longer.


End file.
